In railroad applications, it is often desirable to attach one or more components to the track rail. A non-inclusive list of such components includes communications wires (i.e., signal conductors) and track heaters. In the latter case, such track heaters are often utilized in cold weather climates at railroad switches.
Components are often anchored directly to the track rail utilizing bolts and/or welds. In this regard, a hole may be drilled into the track rail for mounting purposes, or, a portion of the component may be welded directly to the track rail. Such interconnection techniques are generally labor intensive and require careful positioning to prevent structurally weakening the track rail. Such connection techniques can result in a stress concentration within the track rail. Further, the heat of exothermic connectors (welding) can result in a brittleness in the track rail. As will be appreciated, track rails are subjected to repeated heavy loading (e.g., railroad traffic) and areas including such stress concentrations and/or brittleness may be subject to failure.